Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 241 Man and Jackal
Just then, a voice came from behind the crowd:

"Luo Fushan, you still have to be shameless!"

Everyone looked back, and it turned out to be the granddaughter of the witch mother, that is, Luo Xiuxiu.Hastily stepped aside, only to hear Luo Xiuxiu scold: "Luo Fushan! You wanted to get Xu Qing drunk that day, but someone got drunk instead. You missed your own business and put the blame on him instead. Are you still a man?"

"Xiuxiu, I..." Luo Fushan quickly explained, but Luo Xiuxiu shook her head and ignored it.

The witch mother beckoned: "Xiuxiu is here, come to me."

Xiuxiu jumped over like a deer, punched Xu Qing, then hugged the witch mother and said: "(Witch mother), you know that Luo Fushan likes to bully guests, so no one can blame other people for making mistakes while drinking."

That punch was seen by Luo Fushan, which made him aggrieved again.

At this moment, everyone also thought of Luo Fushan's temperament, and suddenly said: "Fushan boy, tell me, tell me, what is this called!"

The old man snorted and said, "Xiuxiu, why are you turning your elbows outward?"

Unexpectedly, Xiuxiu's brows stood on end, and she said, "Who is with your family!"

The old man snorted again and said with a smile: "Not now, sooner or later..."

Xiuxiu was so angry: "You!"

The witch mother came out to stop the two of them and said, "Okay, okay, now is not the time to talk about this!"

In this way, the two people argued for nothing, and the surrounding villagers were also divided into two factions, one side wanted to punish Xu Qing for his crime of demagoguery, because he would not be guilty if he did not come to Mount Luofu.On the one hand, they believed that Luo Fushan should be punished, while Xu Qing was innocent.

Someone pointed at the group of people who wanted to punish Luo Fushan and said: "Hmph, you people, are you also bewitched by this kid?"

Those people retorted: "Heaven is above, the witch mother is here, bewitched or not, what you say doesn't matter!"

"Okay..." The witch mother knocked on the crutches and asked Xu Qing, "They said you stole chickens last night, what evidence do you have to prove that you are not?"

"I still say the same thing, there is no physical evidence, and no one saw it, so how can I be convicted of stealing based on guesswork." Xu Qing said: "Besides, I slept in the room last night, so I can still be separated!"

"Well, who can prove that you were in the house last night?"

"This," Xu Qing was at a loss for words for a moment, who can prove this, and only his wife can prove it at night, but what's the use?No one will believe me when I say it.

"Look..." The old man captured Xu Qing's expression treacherously, and immediately said: "It's true that Fushan Yazi is drunk, and he should be punished, but this drunkenness was planned by someone else, and Fushan Yazi is forgiven if he is not experienced in the world." And the person who stole the chicken, the person who planned it, is right in front of you!"

Once again, the crowd targeted Xu Qing, but some people spoke up for Xu Qing: "He gave all the money, and it's okay. If the chicken is sold in the market, it may not be able to sell for a good price!"

Someone immediately laughed and said: "You old man, your eyes are the size of a grain of rice. You don't know how big a group will be after a few years!"

Xu Qing thought, it's over, it's time to use violence again today, otherwise, according to his chicken-and-egg theory, the general will become a slave in this small mountain village today.

Just when Xu Qing was at a loss.Xiuxiu suddenly said: "I can testify!"

"Oh?"

Everyone looked at her with puzzled eyes.

Xiuxiu rubbed her hands and said: "I couldn't sleep for a long time last night, so I went out to watch the snow, and I didn't sleep until four o'clock. I was standing there, and I could just hear his snoring loudly, so I can prove that he didn't come out at night."

In fact, she not only heard the snoring last night, but also walked into Xu Qing's room to see him sleeping with the three women.It's just that Xu Qing slept so hard that she didn't notice it, but she didn't know that Huang Shimei had noticed her actions.

I understood everyone, and I obviously believed in Xiuxiu's words.But Xu Qing didn't steal chickens, and what he said was reasonable if there were no chicken feathers, so he fell into doubts again.

Seeing that Luo Xiuxiu's words convinced everyone, Xu Qing couldn't help but give her a grateful look, but as expected, she was returned with a blank stare.

Just when everyone was sighing, a person ran over and said, "Mother Wu, it's terrible, it's terrible, Father Lobu saw someone selling chickens at the market entrance, and all the chickens sold were dead chickens that were killed with one knife!"

This person spoke hoarsely, and everyone was furious when they heard this, and they all asked, "Who is it?"

The man took a breath and said, "Father Lobu said, they are talking nonsense..."

"Snail talk!" Hearing this, everyone was furious and cursed for a while pointingly at the sky with some words that Xu Qing couldn't understand.Then the witch mother looked at Xu Qing seriously, and asked Xiuxiu to take him away. He had no chance to know how to deal with the chicken stealing case.But it is certain that it seems to have nothing to do with him, and the thirty cents will not be returned.

"Miss Xiu, why do you want us to go away?"

"Oh, you don't know, our snail clan is not at peace."

"How do you say that?" Xu Qing asked, and Xiuxiu came up one by one.

It turns out that there are more than [-] Luo people living in a county called Luo.Since the county magistrate is Han, he would not unite the tens of thousands of Luo people. In addition to various other reasons, the Luo people are friendly on the surface, but they are still fighting fiercely in private.

The small size of Luoxian County caused the villages and villages to compete with each other for water and land. In order to avoid bloodshed, each village and village had a higher-level organization.

There are two witch mothers and village elders in each village. The witch mother is passed down from above. The inheritance system, the village elders are selected by the branch with the largest population in the village.Xiuxiu is the next witch mother, and the next village elder, if nothing else happens, should be Luo Fushan.That's why someone said just now that Xiuxiu is from his family.

The witch mother presides over the daily affairs in the village. She is not only the village head but also the village health center, and she is also the belief of the village.

The village elders are away all year round, and together with other village elders, they form a council or something to coordinate the conflicts between the villages.But in the council, words are also based on strength. In some villages, there are many people and strength, so what they say has weight.

There are few people in Luo Xiuxiu's village, they are only considered as low class.So after learning that it was the same clan who stole the chicken, the witch mother sent Xu Qing away to do everyone's work.It's nothing more than asking everyone to bear with it and find out who the other party is.If it wasn't for Dazhai, Luotou Village could also unite with a few relatives to make a fuss. If it was Dazhai, if there was no death certificate, it might be the end of it.

There are so many layers of relationships here, Xu Qing was dizzy after hearing this, he only came to one conclusion, it seems that the council formed by the village elders holds the power of life and death, and the "prefect" corner that appeared in Xiuxiu's story at the beginning seems to be absent. effect.

So Xu Qing asked: "Miss Xiu, don't they use lynching, so the county government doesn't care?"

Luo Xiuxiu looked at Xu Qing like a fool: "Have you ever met the county master who is in charge of these things?"

Xu Qing hiccupped and replied: "See, I've seen..."

Luo Xiuxiu glanced suspiciously at Xu Qing and said, "That's weird. Apart from collecting grain and paying taxes, our county lord only sends out errands when Latin is serving. We don't usually see him."

Xu Qing scratched his head and thought of a word—native officials. Bigger ethnic groups would have similar autonomous regions, in charge of taxation and criminal laws, but small groups like the Luo people might not have them.

Xiuxiu suddenly suggested: "Okay, okay, let's not talk about that, let's go and play with Lobu's father?"

Xu Qing asked, "Father Lobu?"

Xiuxiu snorted softly, "That's right, those who punted with me that day, don't tell me you don't remember?"

Xu Qing came to a sudden: "Oh, I remember." After finishing speaking, he looked around. The snow was still falling and it was much smaller, but he still couldn't go without a carriage.

It's like walking in a white curtain, peeling off a row of white curtains, only to see a house standing in the wilderness.The thatched hut is not broken, and the fireworks are raised. In this snowy field, there is no doubt that there is a lot of warmth.

"(Luo) Father Lobu?" Miss Xiu knocked on the door and called, "Papa Lobu, open the door?"

"(Luo) Xiuxiu is here, what do you want to eat today..." Father Lobu opened the door and saw Xu Qing, he was speechless for a while.

"Lobu's father is a fisherman. There are often wooden drums and small fish such as green strips at home. He often skewers them and grills them for me to eat." Xiuxiu smiled crescent moon crookedly and explained to Xu Qing, and then to Lobu The old man said: "(Luo) Lobu's old man, this Han is not bad, he knows that someone stole the chicken last night."

When Father Lobu heard this, he let Xu Qing go in, silently added firewood to the stove, and then grilled the fish.Today, crucian carp is grilled, one arm long and the width of a palm, with only a little salt sprinkled on it, it is roasted until it is golden brown but not burnt black at all.

The first one was naturally eaten by Xiuxiu, and Father Lobu picked up another one to roast.

Father Lobu asked, "(Luo) Xiuxiu, what happened to the chicken theft last night?"

Luo Xiuxiu smiled and said, "Thanks to the news from Father Lobu, otherwise this Han man would have been beaten to death..."

Father Lobu shook his head and said, "(Luo) I also saw it when I was selling fish in the morning, but I didn't dare to catch the current one."

Xu Qing could only understand Xiuxiu's words, and was in a state of confusion.

Father Lobu sighed, turned the fish over and said, "It's a trivial matter to lose a (snail) chicken, but I see many houses collapsed in the village, which is a major matter."

Xu Qing didn't want to be dumb, no matter if he understood or not, he nodded and said: "Mmm..."

Xiuxiu asked strangely: "What are you doing? Do you understand?"

Xu Qing said truthfully: "I didn't understand..."

"Hehe..." Luo Xiuxiu smiled and said, "Xu Qing, your name is Xu Qing, right? Lobu's father said just now that the collapse of houses in the village is a big deal. Didn't your little sister say that you know astronomy from the top to the bottom?" Geography, come up with an idea!"

Xu Qing pondered for a while, remembering his experience in Luonan, and said: "The house collapsed because there was no maintenance. The lack of maintenance was either because I was busy, or because I was lazy, because I didn't know what to do if I was lazy. Because I was busy, I had to reduce it." There is a way to pay less taxes.”

Xiuxiu once again looked at Xu Qing like a fool, and said, "Reduce tax and reduce labor? How is that possible? The tax is getting heavier every year, and there are Luo people who have fled to the mountains to avoid tax."

Xu Qing was greatly surprised when he heard the words. In order to appease people's hearts and stabilize the region, the ancient imperial court had two strategies for brothers and nations.This is still the case in other places, let alone this Huguang.

How many years has Huguang unified?

Logically speaking, newly merged places will reduce taxes for three years to win the hearts of the people. Why is this Luo County increasing taxes?
Xu Qing asked: "What about the other villages, such as the Dazhai you mentioned, they have a lot of people, wouldn't it be more sad?"

Xiuxiu froze for a moment before saying: "It's strange to say, but for some reason, they look much better."

Father Lobu coughed twice and handed the fish to Xu Qing.

(End of this chapter)